A digital transformation became a necessity for businesses to compete and even survive in the tough market ocean. In other words, current global events have sent a strong message to the business community: markets can shift in a split second.
Meanwhile, businesses around the globe are initiating ambitious digital strategies in an effort to provide game-changing outcomes due to the whole world including their customer base became more digital.
Keep reading to learn how your business can drive its transformation to be right where your customers are.
What is Digital Transformation?
It might be challenging to come up with a definition that applies to every business because it will differ slightly for each one of them.
Nevertheless, broadly speaking, we describe digital transformation as a fundamental shift in how the business operates, interacts, and connects with its customers.
Moreover, it’s a business mindset change that needs businesses to become comfortable with failure, as digital transformation requires taking risks and experimenting to find out what works the best.
As Keith Weed from Unilever said: “We should no longer be talking about ‘digital marketing’ but marketing in a digital world”.
Isn’t Digitalization the Same as Digital Transformation?
In a nutshell: no.
It is easy to get lost when it comes to digital marketing terminology. To clarify, let’s look at the differences in order to avoid becoming lost in the terminology:
- The process of turning data or materials into a digital format is known as digitalization. In addition, digitalization uses these digital assets to support business operations.
- Digital transformation is the process of reinvention. It lets to explore how to use digital technology and practices to create new approaches, develop a digital mentality, and take advantage of untapped potential.
The 4 Types of Digital Transformation
- Process Transformation: focuses on data collection, analytics, artificial intelligence, and any other process that might help a company cut costs and improve operational effectiveness.
- Business Model Transformation: involves making fundamental adjustments to the way a business performs, which includes but is not limited to employees, operational procedures, and technology.
- Domain Transformation: by obtaining new technology, a business has a great option to broaden into a new domain or sector that it may not have previously explored.
- Cultural/Organizational Transformation: this is about reinventing attitudes, processes, competencies, and skills for a digital environment.
Digital Transformation Pillars
- Empowered employees: a company’s ability to effectively navigate digital change depends on its employees. To facilitate cooperation and boost productivity, employees must be given the tools and skills necessary to advance digital initiatives. You can create an environment where the use of technology fosters creativity and forward-thinking by prioritizing their growth.
- Optimized processes: in addition to its workforce business comprises a set of intricately linked processes and information. Your business can increase customer satisfaction and ROI by offering a platform that integrates task delivery. As a result, proactive asset management capabilities will keep everyone in line throughout the company.
- Mindset: while leadership plays a role of a motivating force in this process, in order to accept transformation, authority, and independent work decisions, the entire company must alter its mentality.
- Technologies: as it is more difficult to adjust to new customer behaviours and keep customers without smart investments, innovative technologies such as AI or machine learning are a must-have to achieve digital transformation goals.
6 Steps to Digital Transformation
1. Define the significance of digital transformation for your business
Establishing precisely what a digital transformation means for your business is a crucial first step in its initiation. Consider the wider picture while taking into consideration your issues, business’s level of development, competitors, market dynamics, customers, community, and any other influencing factors. Use this data to understand what exactly digital transformation means for your business and what you’re trying to achieve by making these changes.
2. Analyze your existing capabilities
Examine your IT infrastructure, your staff, and your technologies; you should take into account everything that goes into making your company what it is today.
3. Decide how you’ll go digital
Your approach might consist of both internal and external changes, or it could be as simple as one little adjustment. Despite this, it is always important to remember that any digital solution is a way to achieve your goals.
4. Get the right buy-in
Although it may appear to be a relatively simple stage compared to developing a full digital transformation plan. Nevertheless, it may take some time to get the necessary buy-in. It’s important that you get started as soon as you have a strong strategy in place.
5. Make a plan of action
Decide on what would you modify first. What will have the most impact and add the most value, and what is a roadblock that cannot be avoided to create a clear roadmap to determine when things should happen.
6. Make sure you have the necessary skills in place
One of the primary issues that keep coming up when considering the causes of digital transformation failure is a lack of expertise. Certainly, businesses must pay attention to recruiting employees with the skills necessary to advance digital transformation.
Benefits of Digital Transformation
- Better data collection
- More effective resource management
- Customers’ insights driven by data
- Improved customers’ experience
- Enhanced teamwork and fostered a digital culture
- Higher revenues
- Enhanced agility
- Boosted productivity
Common Digital Transformation Pitfalls to Avoid
1. Technology adoption for the sake of technology
You should always take the plunge and establish your goals in advance, regardless of your digitalization plans. Before you find yourself in a place where you’ve spent a lot of budget on something that would sooner ruin your business than provide you any actual benefit, avoid making rash judgments.
2. Thinking of digital transformation as a one-off activity
The process is difficult and cannot be completed in a day months or even years. It’s an ongoing goal that entails adapting your company to rapidly changing digital technologies, updating your practices, assets, and services to match changing consumer demands, and expanding to meet new business difficulties.
3. Data collection without proper utilization
Data-informed decisions are essential for a successful digital transformation. Analyze and make use of the data you get from customer and business activities. It will help you to provide actionable insights and promote data-informed choices in your attempts to implement digital transformation.
4. Not taking cultural change seriously enough
A change in mindset capacity and a shift in business culture may be necessary for your success during the digital transformation process. To increase process efficiency and get everyone in the same boat and prepared for the future, you will need to develop new positions and gradually reframe the ones that already exist.
Embrace the Power of Digital Transformation for Your Business
That is to say, the effect and advantages of digital transformation are widely observed, and the first stage is to develop a strategy. Most importantly, don’t forget that the process of digital transformation is challenging, and the human factor is equally as crucial as the use of technology.
About the author:
Tali is a results-driven digital marketer with a track record of growing her clients’ businesses and driving revenue.
As the business owner at WSI Digital Path, Vaughan, she takes great pride in delivering powerful but cost-effective solutions for her clients.
Innovative and revolutionary digital marketing trends set the pace for the digital marketing industry. Don’t make the mistake of falling behind! Contact WSI Digital Path today and trust your digital marketing to the industry’s leading professionals.
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